snorg wrote:

Very odd---noticed the subject changed and "Polaris" added did one
of the mods do that because I sure didn't.

Yeah I did it. To help the thread stay on track with Polaris talk, since that's what the first post and previous 6 pages have been about. 😀

NVidia has officially announced that the GTX1060, which will be the RX480's main rival, will be available from July 19th, starting from $249: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10474/nvidia-an … tx-1060-july-19

Sapphire releasing RX480 Nitro with single 8-pin connector.

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/sapphire-rad … -480-nitro.html

I've always had good luck with Sapphire cards going back to R300.

Looks like good news. I don't know if I should get one of these 3rd party
Polaris cards or hold out for Vega.

snorg wrote:

Looks like good news. I don't know if I should get one of these 3rd party
Polaris cards or hold out for Vega.

Vega will be in a much higher price class. So it depends on your budget.

Some news on the 470 and 480. Apparently there won't be a reference card, just partner designs, hence the delay.

Shame, I kinda liked the look of the tiny 460 that the CEO held up a while ago.

The new Sapphire dual fan RX480 has a 8pin connector and looks solid. I would go with that when it releases.

ODwilly wrote:

The new Sapphire dual fan RX480 has a 8pin connector and looks solid. I would go with that when it releases.

The GeForce GTX1060 will be launched next Tuesday. I'd wait for that one at least. If the price fits your budget, it will likely be a better deal than the RX480 (faster, lower power consumption, more supported features).

So, Doom just got a Vulkan api support on a patch. Looks like Radeon RX 480 got a nice boost in performance from it. http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/new-patch-br … rt-to-doom.html, http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/2510-do … rx-480-gtx-1080.

EDIT: Even more benchmarks with Doom Vulkan api http://gamegpu.com/action-/-fps-/-tps/doom-ap … vulkan-test-gpu, https://www.computerbase.de/2016-07/doom-vulk … rks-amd-nvidia/.

So for AMD that boost will be good, I hope they relase some stronger videocards in future, and fast as NVIDIA once more like in 2001-05.

Tiger433 wrote:

So for AMD that boost will be good

Yes... My GTX970 didn't get any gains from Vulkan yet. The DOOM Vulkan FAQ says that they are still working with nVidia to enable async compute. NV has also tweeted that the current driver is not 'Game Ready' yet...
So I can only wait and hope that an update will improve Vulkan performance... If not, it is what it is.
I've seen various benchmarks that do show some boost from Vulkan on certain nVidia cards (mainly the 980Ti and 1080 it seems), but not as dramatic as AMD.

I would like to know if say next year with new architectures if all Vulkan and D3D 12 games will need to be reworked to run well. This low level API thing seems like a major compatibility issue down the road. Very touchy.

swaaye wrote:

I would like to know if say next year with new architectures if all Vulkan and D3D 12 games will need to be reworked to run well. This low level API thing seems like a major compatibility issue down the road. Very touchy.

Looks like it. The performance is all over the place. Even GPUs from the same family can give wildly different results, depending on their exact configuration.

Over time we might see the architectures converge, like we've seen with x86. Since the Pentium Pro, both Intel and AMD had followed the same basic design principles. When Intel deviated from this, with the Pentium 4, it was a failure. Software had to be optimized specifically for the new architecture. For some software (mainly video encoding/decoding), it worked out okay, but a lot of software wasn't rewritten, and performed better on Pentium III and Athlon systems.
Likewise, when AMD deviated from this with their Bulldozer, it was a failure as well.

So I doubt that games that have already been released would be reworked for future GPUs.
In which case, nVidia and AMD had better make sure that their future GPUs have similar performance characteristics to the current ones. Just like the x86 instructionset, this may actually slow down development and optimization of GPU architectures.

Edit: Or of course they could just be teething problems, and soon we'll have DX12/Vulkan games/drivers that work fine on any GPU you chuck at it, and we never look back... 😀

460 in the wild!

http://www.techarp.com/articles/amd-radeon-rx … 460-sneak-peek/

This might be my card. I hardly game, this will do the job just fine and still have new features such as HDMI 2.0, 4k playback and all of that.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

460 in the wild!

http://www.techarp.com/articles/amd-radeon-rx … 460-sneak-peek/

This might be my card. I hardly game, this will do the job just fine and still have new features such as HDMI 2.0, 4k playback and all of that.

Let's hope they don't overshoot the PCI-e slot power limits this time, because this card won't have an additional power connector to compensate 😀

Ha, I think the QA people will triple check to be sure 😀

Mind you, third-party board designs will likely features an extra power connector, just for the overclockability and e-peenness 😀

I hope RX 460 would be atleast as fast as GeForce GTX 960, I would buy one if Nvidia doesn't release GTX 1050 without additional power connector.

Scali wrote:

Mind you, third-party board designs will likely features an extra power connector, just for the overclockability and e-peenness 😀

That would be a mistake in this segment (~$100) imo as I've come across many posts (Windows & Mac users) expressing a need for small one-slot card without any extra power draw.

archsan wrote:

Scali wrote:

Mind you, third-party board designs will likely features an extra power connector, just for the overclockability and e-peenness 😀

That would be a mistake in this segment (~$100) imo as I've come across many posts (Windows & Mac users) expressing a need for small one-slot card without any extra power draw.

Well, the Nvidia GTX 750Ti had the fate of getting power connectors for no reason, and being equipped with 2 slot coolers with 3 fans. I think only Galax made them with single slot fans, and I think also a model with low profile. I wonder if the power connector "for overclockability" shows up like the GTX 750Ti, but the bios is still locked to a lower wattage. I would gladly take a 2 slot cooler, but not useless power connectors that don't do jack.

EDIT: Not Galax, but KFA2, maybe MSI, Zotac.